Order of the Broken Arrow - A Fantasy RP - Signup and

Sorry, future people, this RP is six feet under.

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Link to the RP
Link to the discussion

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For countless generations, the Order of the Broken Arrow has taken up the responsibility of protecting the Kingdom of Rylaath from magical threats. The men and women of the Order went down in history as the best of the best - heroic champions who valiantly fought back the tides of evil and chaos that threatened the people of the Kingdom. While once considered the heroes of legend, they have done their jobs too well, and the populace gradually forgot about their necessity; children now dream of becoming bards, merchants and artists rather than heroes, mages and monster-slayers. Years of relative peace and prosperity have reduced the number of battle-hardened veterans capable of lending their expertise. The result is that the Order's Knights have been dying off faster than new members could be recruited. Now, desperate for new blood, the unthinkable has happened: They've lowered their recruitment standards. Deciding upon this course of action, they quickly sent the call out to the corners of the Kingdom, from the Magic Academy, to the elven tribes of the Southmists, to the dwarf citadel of Kalra-Moor, and even as far as the border cities. All who have applied and been deemed acceptable under the new criteria have been sent to the Order's fortress in the western city of Tynium.

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Hello/Howdy/Holler/Hola/Hi! This is an idea I had for an RP. The "plot" is basically going to be Heroic Fantasy meets Warehouse 13. Everyone's going to join an organization that deals with all sorts of magical matters. They locate Artifacts of Doom; hunt down Necromancers, Vampires, Leprechauns and other sorts of dark magicians and creatures; seal portals, tears and rifts; and generally try to preserve the status quo. So now, for one reason or another, your character has decided to answer the call, and join up. After being put in a squad of rather strange folks (read: the other player characters), your character will spend a few weeks in a Training Montage learning the bare basics, and then be sent off on their first mission.

For character creation, go wild, I made up some races and places in the introduction, but make up whatever you want, short of something totally crazy like demons/angels/etc. Every character has some sort of magic, enchanted trousers, etc, but you can still be anything you want. Give them abilities from about 3 on the Super Weight scale (story-wise, they will be about 1-2 and then be given a special Amplifier Artifact when they join). The technology is mostly medieval with magical flair, so if you really want a character to have a gun, you can have some sort of musket that uses magic to load or something along those lines.

Character Signup Skeleton:

• Name:
• Age:
• Race:
• Gender:
• Appearance:
• Brief Backstory:
• Abilities:

So if anyone's interested, just type away. Suggestions, comments, questions (and pointing out glaring mistakes) are encouraged! (Well damn it all, I already made a mistake - the title should be "...Signup and Chatter")

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People (I'm going to start striking out the names of anyone who hasn't posted for... let's say two weeks or so. Doesn't mean your character is banished, you can feel free to suddenly rejoin in the thread and I'll instantly remove the strikethrough, but it just makes it easier to see who's currently playing when I look at the list):

• Jiun Yu (Totemic Hero)
• Mak´karath (Savato)
• Princess Alicia Lucille Sugarplum Quilldrake XXVII and The Maid (Moerin)
• Megan (Sonzai)
• Felix Preadosali (Luthen)
• Yorth Redbeard (SKJAM)
• Karin Christina Fournier (Daltar)
• The Knight (Saturn)
• Roland Ashcroft (Pyrite)
• Rime Den'uum (Dragon573)
• Gareth Arccoin (Runekn)
• Antonio Mellow (Test Your Might)
• Lorelai (Ragna The Saviour)
• Laeven (Artemis 92)
• Cathal (Exelixi)
• Matheld (arreimil)
• Emily Doe (Justa Username)

edited 13th Mar '13 11:24:19 PM by nman

Not really, considering "chatter" probably goes in the Discussion section of the RP forums.

Color me interested (and annoyed, since it auto-posted the first few words). I'll draw up a character in the next couple of days.

edited 17th Mar '12 5:59:40 PM by TotemicHero

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

I may be interested.

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

• Name: Victor van Leyden
• Age: Chronologically twenty-one, physically fourteen, mentally... it varies
• Race: Vampire *is boo'd off stage*
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: Isn't he just an adorable little blood sucker?
• Brief Backstory: A young child who was turned shortly after his tenth birthday (he aged a few years before it stopped), Victor has actually been very civil about the whole vampire thing. He generally doesn't bring it up unless asked or if the information is pertinent. He doesn't have a superiority complex, nor is he an amoral psychopath or an Enfante Terrible. He does have an unfortunate habit of sneaking into his neighbor's houses at night to feed himself, but he never takes more than he needs, and is gentle enough about it that the donor usually just wakes up light-headed, thinking they had a run-in with a bad dream and a spider-bite. He's sort of been on the road for a while now, meeting people and seeing the world, and generally doing all the fun things kids wish they could do but can't because "it's dangerous". He's been in an adventuring sort of mood lately, and has decided to join the Order to meet new people and try new things.
• Abilities: For once, we're going to do this right, or at least be semi-consistent with the lore. No, he does not turn extra-crispy in sunlight. It mildly irritates his skin and he hates the way the sun shines in his eyes. That's it. While he does not have a freakish allergy to garlic and hawthorn, he cannot walk on consecrated grounds or touch blessed items and holy water, and he can only enter a home if invited by the proper owner. Public buildings are an exception. He cannot cross running water, at least not in any way that requires touching it. He does have a mild arithmomania problem, but this won't stop him from defending himself, so that whole "make him count rice while you decapitate him" trick probably won't work. He is a proper undead, meaning he cannot be killed, hence the "undead" bit. He can survive grievous injuries, although staking, decapitation, and total immolation will keep him down longer. If you really want to buy time, stake the heart, cut off the head, burn the body, and scatter the ashes at a crossroads under a full moon. And that'll only keep him down for a year. Other than that, he possesses physical and magical potential above what a human can accomplish, although being permanently a child, his "enhanced physical potential" really only stacks up to what a fully grown adult could do, so his magic is much more notable than his fisticuffing. Oh, and he needs blood. Can't believe I almost forgot about that... anyway, he can eat, it just doesn't sustain him. His cravings for blood occur almost as often as a normal human needs food, and if he doesn't get it, he suffers, getting increasingly bad headaches, the shakes, light-headedness, and nausea, which understandably puts him in a foul mood. An added note, which surprisingly little is ever expounded upon, he does not need to make the process hurt, nor is it inherently painless or pleasurable. It is whatever he wants it to be, and if he wants it to feel gentle and loving, that's how it will feel. By contrast, if he wants you to bleed like a pig, expect to be screaming bloody murder. He is very charming and persuasive, and is suitably adorable and perfect. And unless you want me to be get specific about magic, that about covers strengths and weaknesses.

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

Alright.... being a vampire on a team that hunts down vampires is probably a bad idea, especially when they're supposed to be holding onto holy items in order to kill them... but you put in some effort, and I don't want you to scrap your character, so... how about... okay, I got it:

Vampires are children of dark magics, they have all the usual evil vampire stuff, and feed on human blood to fuel themselves and increase their life force. Meanwhile, your character, the Friendly Neighborhood Vampire, is of an entirely different species that results from nature-based magic (how about we call them... eh, we'll think of a word) that happens to have some similar phenotypes, and thus tends to be confused with the typically-evil vampires. They don't have a blood addiction, rather they are iron deficient and require aqueous iron and red blood cells, and blood (human or any other mammal) just happens to be a pretty good source, which is why they developed similar mechanisms to vampires. They don't have any of the typical holy vampire weaknesses, but (and you can make something up if my suggestion isn't cool) are weakened by water-magic. They also don't have any specific weakness to decapitation and stakes, but it still takes time to heal up.

Your character could even think he's a vampire (explaining feeding on humans exclusively, and going to neighbor's houses uninvited) and have psychological fears of things that don't harm him. It's not likely that he's had the chance to go and test himself somewhere, so just going off of urban legend assumed he was a vampire.

... Oh wait, right. They hunt vampires. Shit... okay, scratch that. Thematic issues ho. I might try something else, give me a while.

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

Well, you didn't mention anything about holy artifacts in the OP. To be honest, I kind of predicted someone would play the Dark Is Not Evil card. (I wasn't about to do it.)

Anyway, my character:

• Name: Jian Yu
• Age: 20
• Race: Human
• Gender: Female *
  Just to ensure that there will at least be one female character, based off my prior RP experiences.
• Appearance: Courtesy of Gaia Dream Avatars◊
• Backstory: Jian Yu is a refugee from the Sun Empire and a former member of the nobility. She fled from there a few years ago after a royal scandal involving her older brother and one of the Sun Emperor's daughters. As far as she knows, she's the only one who made it to Rylaath. She decided to try to join the Order out of gratitude toward her new home and a desire to protect it.
• Powers: Fairly quick and agile. Capable of using magical paper rune tags to create a variety of effects, both offensive and defensive (with a little more emphasis on the latter). These tags must be prepared in advance (Vancian style), which takes a good amount of time. There is no limit on how many tags she can use in actual combat, other than how many she prepared/carried with her.

edited 18th Mar '12 11:23:36 AM by TotemicHero

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

...It's been my experience that male characters seem to be a lot rarer in RPs, actually. Maybe we've just had vastly different experiences.

Ahem. Anyways... Looks interesting, but I have a lot of other stuff already prioritized... Um... I'll think about this, I guess.

Yep, that's cool so far, but do you want to give her a dagger or staff or something, though? Brass knuckles? Pen? Or is she only going to use her tags? Or know a thing about martial arts? Basically, just make it so that even without her tags she's at least Super Weight 1 instead of 0. But I guess "agile" could count, it's up to you, though.

edited 18th Mar '12 11:54:25 AM by nman

Sounds interesting. Might as well give it a try.

• Name: Mak´karath
• Age: He doesn´t know his exact age but he´s rather old.
• Race: Chain Golem
• Gender: As far as Golems have a gender, male.
• Appearance: [1]◊
• Backstory: A long time ago Mak´karath was created to seal the tomb of some old wizzard. Over the ages, that wizzard´s spirit influenced his mind and made him more intelligent, although he still can´t use magic. He later decided to Stop being Stereotypical , abandoned his tomb and went out to make the world a better place, which may or may not be caused by the fact that the wizzard was a member of the Order of the Broken Arrow and implanted his desire to keep the peace into Mak´karath´s mind.
• Abilities: Can use the various weapons attached to him, is resistant against physical attacks but weak against fire and mental magic.
• Other: He really likes collecting various pieces of metalwork and attaching them to himself.

edited 18th Mar '12 12:03:39 PM by Savato

Remember the first story arc of World of Heroes? You and I were the only ones playing female characters then. That was par for the course for most games I've been involved in. (Heck, for a while until you signed up too, I was looking to be the only one.)

Yeah, the agility helps, but I wasn't planning on emphasizing close combat, thus no weapons or such. I was trying to come up with a variation on a Squishy Wizard. Also, keep in mind that she's not stupid and aware to a degree of these weaknesses.

edited 18th Mar '12 12:04:01 PM by TotemicHero

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

That's fine then, I was just afraid of her being too squishy compared to other magicians who can just think of some crazy spell instead of having to write it.
Heh, gotta love the walking tank.

edited 18th Mar '12 12:13:24 PM by nman

Hmmm, I suppose. Guess I've just gotten used to playing in female heavy RPs recently, ahah. Hmmm, anyways...

...Might have a concept half-cooked up, but we'll see how it works out.

I'm definitely interested, but I was just wondering: could I use a Magitek/Powers as Programs-style mage character? (Still fantasy-themed)

(I have other ideas if this doesn't work too well with the planned theme.)

Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.

So. Um... Yeah. I hope having two characters isn't, um, frowned upon, but I had this silly idea and, um... Yeah. >.<

• Name: Princess Alicia Lucille Sugarplum Quilldrake XXVII
• Age: 17
• Race: Human
• Gender: Female
• Appearance: "Do not disturb me, I am trying to look deep. I hear it is quite fashionable amongst the commoners."
• Brief Backstory: The princess of a neighbouring kingdom, who has chosen to join the Order as a show of goodwill towards Rylaath. Whilst she tries to come off as someone who cares for and understands the common masses, it's clear that she really doesn't understand them at all, no matter how caring she is. She's actually somewhat of a ditz, and initially believed that the Order was more of a ceremonial thing than what it actually is. The only reason she is really kept around is because her assets make funding everything incredibly simple.
• Abilities: Absolutely, incredibly, ridiculously, disgustingly rich. She's so rich that her belief that throwing enough money at any problem will make it go away almost makes sense. She also happens to be mildly skilled in weak healing magic; she can easily heal cuts, bruises and the like, but she is unable to heal more serious injuries. She is completely ineffectual in a fight (not that she would fight; she's a princess, not some common ruffian!), and so leaves any actual combat to her maid.

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• Name: "The Maid"
• Age: Unknown. Looks about 16.
• Race: Maid
• Gender: Maid
• Appearance: ...Pretend those are windmills. >.>
• Brief Backstory: It's unknown where the maid came from, but wherever the princess goes she follows. Previously, she simply worked at the castle, performing the traditional maid tasks of cooking, cleaning, gardening and fighting off invading ninjas. Absolutely obedient to Alicia; she seems completely subservient to the princess and follows her every command unquestioningly. Not that she could question her, as she seems completely incapable of speech. She treats those who try to harm the princess with a good dose of extreme violence.
• Abilities: Absurdly strong and durable for a girl of her build (or for a human in general, which causes people to doubt if she even is one). She generally fights with whatever she can get her hands on, or failing that just her bare hands, and her style lacks precision or skill. However, her lack of skill is more than made up for by her sheer brute strength. Aside from her incredible physical prowess, she is skilled at both cleaning and cooking, and makes the best damn cup of tea you've ever tasted.

edited 18th Mar '12 8:22:29 PM by Moerin

I think so, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean by that particular combination. In any case, as long as it's something like medieval++ it should be fine.

Sure, why not?

It's more like style than anything else, but here goes:

• Name: Megan
• Age: 21
• Race: Human
• Gender: Female
• Appearance: Average build, with brown shorter hair, blue eyes, and wears a combination dark blue dress and black (shorter) trenchcoat with runes inscribed along its edges.
• Brief Backstory: Having grown up in the city and attended the Magic Academy, she specializes in runic rule magic, including custom spells, and has a variety of spells and magic items at her disposal. She has mostly dedicated herself to study, but now sees this opportunity as a way to see the world and improve her skills. Tends to be a bit distant, but is still reasonably nice, and often overly dramatic during confrontations or competitions.
• Abilities: Can cast a variety of utility, enhancement, and combat spells by inscribing magical energy instructions on objects and speaking words of power. She has a variety of prepared reusable magic items in her coat, and as jewelry or on the dress; and while she is considerably less powerful without them, she wouldn't be totally helpless unless also bound and silenced. These spells can generate a wide variety of effects, such as mundane tasks like lighting fires, increase the user's strength or toughness, or for example generate bolts of lightning or fire. (Of course, the power level will be automatically scaled to be fair and fit with the setting.)

edited 18th Mar '12 6:45:44 PM by Sonzai

Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.

Why am I getting the impression this whole thing is going to make me look bad due to my earlier comment about playing females?

edited 18th Mar '12 7:18:44 PM by TotemicHero

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

I'm as surprised as you are, I was half-expecting everyone to make dudes. Maybe they want to spite you?
That's good, I saw Magitek and was expecting medieval Powered Armor and Frickin' Laser Beams.

edited 18th Mar '12 7:33:48 PM by nman

In every RP I've ever been in, there has always been at least a 2:1 vagina to penis ratio. I don't know where you RP, but it obviously isn't TV Tropes

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

Most of my experience is not on teh Interwebz, so it's not like I can link it to you. And I have done it once on TV Tropes before (hence my comment to Moerin, who was in that one too).

If this swings too much to the females, I can always retool my character to be male, not hard to do.

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

I don't know - maybe it's all the anime fans? *

But in Totemic Hero's defense, TV Tropes RPs are a lot more female-heavy than most other RP places I've been to.

Nah, I meant for like the utility magic, and the runic 'programming' - but it still looks and feels like Heroic Fantasy magic.

edited 18th Mar '12 7:42:22 PM by Sonzai

Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.

Depends on the RP doesn't it? A lot of the ones I've been in have been male biased. But then I avoid the crossovers which I think might be biased.

Anyway, here's my submission. Sorry if the backstory is too long, or the power-set too wide/strong.

Disc thread and RP thread

• Name: Felix Preadosali
• Age: 17
• Race: Half-Sprite, half-Vandal.
  • Sprites are a type of fairy. About the size of a human child, they have full sized wings (i.e. they hang from shoulder almost to the ground). They are inherently very magical. A lot are capable of off-hand magical feats that a normal mage would have to spend a lot of effort preparing. The reason they aren't considered a threat, is that they don't care much for it. As a rule they're more mischievous than dangerous. Plus they have a crippling weakness to iron, they can't bear its touch and a shackle of it binds their magic. And eventually kills them.
  • Vandal is as much a cultural name as a race name. Think pirate halflings turned good. Suffice to say, average height of 4'6", same proportions as humans (as opposed to squat dwarves). The Vandals are a race of semi-nomadic semi-pirate tribes, hailing from the Vandese Isles along the eastern coast of the Kingdom. In the past they were known for raiding the coast cities, but the Kingdom's navy and the Order eventually put an end to that. Nowadays they mostly just run most of the more successful sea-merchants, fisheries and occasional salvage operation.
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: (still looking for a pic, but here's what I'm thinking of)
  Felix looks like any teenager; with tanned skin, stormy eyes and short brown hair. Except for a couple of things. He's 4'2" for one, and his face looks a little older you'd think it should be. Also he has two pairs of dragonfly-like wings sprouting from between his shoulder-blades. They're not full size, only as long as his torso. He wears a pooffy shirt under light, tight fitting leather vest, pants and steel-toed boots. He tends to wear a colourful bandanna and googles. Oh, and has a sword on each hip.
• Backstory:
  If you were paying attention, you made have noticed that Felix is half Sprite. His mum, Libelle was the Sprite; his dad, Marcus the Vandal. Some time (~18 years) ago, one of them seduced the other (Felix doesn't really want to know) and eventually he came into the world. Problem was, Libelle was a storm sprite, hardly the type to settle down. She started taking longer and longer "breaks" from looking after Felix. By four she was gone as much as she was there, and by six Felix would be lucky to see her once every six months.
  Growing up on stories (of his mother, his father's work, of everything), Felix decided he wanted to be a bard. However he soon was told he couldn't sing. Really. Stop. Unhappy, he resigned himself to joining his family's ship's crew. He even was beginning to enjoy the salty breeze, hard work, and all of it. Unfortunately, the crew came under a cloud of bad luck. Storms, lost cargo, small stuff, big stuff. Eventually the captain (Felix's second-uncle) banished him from the ship. Whether it was Felix's fault was never determined, but the captain claims things are going much better. Lacking any real skills, and unable to find a job in the on-shore side of things; Felix didn't think he had much choice but to join the Order, when the call came to town.
• Abilities:
  Felix's skills lie in the areas of seafaring and swordplay. He knows his knots, basic navigation and can predict the weather quite well. He's a good swordsman, dual wielding while flying to make up for his size.
  Felix gains some magical ability from his heritage, he however hasn't trained it all. He has an affinity for storm magic (lightning, wind, etc.). For "traditional" magic the most he can do is a small spark, or shocking grip.
  Even though his wings are on their own vestigial, Felix has always been able to fly. His magic "finishing" his wings to the size required for flight. The other instinctive magic he has is a minor Healing Factor. About double speed in general, but much faster for his wings (they are prone to damage).
  He also inherited an allergy to iron. It doesn't burn him, but does cause him to break out in a very itchy rash. Iron shackles won't kill him, but cut him off from his magic, wings, and healing factor.

edited 25th Mar '12 12:28:15 AM by Luthen

You must agree, my plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity! My Tumblr

I too would like to participate.

• Name: Yorth Redbeard
• Age: 35
• Race: Human
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: Medium height, skinny, red hair (including beard), green eyes, pale skin tending to freckles. Long fingers. Has a habit of adopting local clothing as quickly as possible.
• Brief Backstory: Yorth is a treasure hunter by avocation, though his main training is as a merchant. His parents and their parents are middling-successful merchants, though it's expected that his grandparents will be passing away soon. Yorth grew up hearing tales of the Order, but never dreamed he'd be able to join, and contented himself with acquiring valuable objects on private expeditions. Now that the Broken Arrow is getting desperate, Yorth Redbeard is more than willing to sign up.
• Abilities: Yorth is an experienced merchant, familiar with the surrounding lands and fluent in the major languages. He's studied treasure tales, and is familiar with most of the stories of lost wealth and magical items. He's also pretty good at judging the resale value of an item just by looking at it. Yorth combines self-defense and sleight of hand, keeping numerous small weapons and useful items concealed about his person. He can use swords, but prefers daggers and brass knuckles.

Yorth has no superhuman abilities of his own, but possesses a fine collection of minor magical items.

Comments, thoughts?

...Wait, "Maid" is a race and gender now?

Anyway, I'm interested, but this is just bad timing for me. Let's see how this goes.

SKJAM: Just a thought, but you might want to elaborate on what some of those minor magical items are.

edited 19th Mar '12 5:16:34 AM by Pyrite

Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.